Year of Hell
by Arashi no Baka
Summary: The year of hell has begun. With no Batman and no Justice League, can Robin, Nightwing and the only allies they have left, defeat Slade and his growing horde of evil? Or will they be doomed to fall?


Title: **Year Of Hell**  
Pairing: **Robin!Tim/Kon-El!Connor  
** Hints at: **Jason/Dick**  
Rating: ** R – Nasty stuff. Violence.  
** Part: ** Day One** 1?

Batman and all related things and incidents belong to DC Comics. 

Day One. Gotham City. 22:47 

- 

Timothy Drake stood in the rain. Staring at the body of the man he now called _dad_. 

This was no accident. This had been cold, unadulterated murder. And there was only one 

person in the world who would have been able to achieve it. An act that the Joker, that the 

Riddler and Two-Face and Mr Freeze and many hundreds of others had _not_ been able 

to commit. Had been carried out by a man to whom violence and murder were as natural as 

breathing. 

Slade. 

And with his dying breath Timothy Drake - _Robin_ - would kill him. 

- 

_"This is something I have to do Tim." _

"Why you? Why can't you take someone _with_ you? I don't…want_ you to go alone. Slade will _kill_ you." _

Bruce's expression was almost apologetic and Robin had never understood why they said Bruce 

was unreadable most of the time. They just didn't know where – or how – to look. 

"Stay. Please." He looked at Bruce, eyes pleading. "Br-" He hesitated and pulled the one thing he had left. "Dad_…" _

"I'm sorry." Bruce surprised him, giving him a tight hug before leaving for the batmobile. 

Tim ignored Alfred's sympathetic expression and turned away, unable to watch Bruce drive to what was surely his death. 

"I love you…" 

It was the last time he would ever see Bruce alive. 

- 

Dick Grayson stood in the rain. Staring at the man who had adopted him. Taken him in when he had no place to go. 

He hated Slade more now than he ever allowed himself to. Hated him as much as he had hated Bruce. At one time. Not now. God, not ever now. His eyes fell on Tim and his heart constricted with pain. What Slade had done to Bruce was one thing, but to destroy Tim's spirit…to kill the heart of the one person who still meant the world to Dick. 

That was unforgivable. 

And with his dying breath Dick Grayson - _Nightwing_ - would kill him. 

- 

_Batman was doing the impossible and Dick didn't know how to stop him. When he'd taken on the mantle of Redwing, he had been full of rage and hate and had turned it inward – becoming the embodiment of everything he had sworn to destroy. _

Trying to avoid a future that was full of pain. 

And now things were working out that way anyway. And as much as Dick had once wished ill of his adopted father, now was not one of those times. He could not stand by and watch Slade destroy his father. Never. 

"Nightwing! Move!" 

Dick ignored Bruce's call and stared at Slade in hatred. 

"I won't let you kill him!" 

Slade sneered and there was no remorse in his eyes for what he was about to do. To Dick, it was the last straw. Slade had no qualms about killing friend _or_ foe. He had to be stopped. 

"Then you will die too!" 

Dick heard Bruce shout at about the same time his legs gave way. 

"NO!" 

- 

Barbara Gordon was no stranger to pain. Shot many years ago by the most hated – until now – of Bruce's enemies, she was paralysed. 

But this pain. This was a different kind of pain altogether. She stared at the ground where Bruce lay and it never once occurred to her that someone should be moving the body. Preserving it. Keeping it safe. All she could feel was anger and hurt and pain. Bruce Wayne – entrepreneur and all round play-boy – was dead. And with him went two boys' hope for a family at last. 

Her eyes closed, tears running unbidden down her face. Dick and Tim had lost a father. Alfred the best friend he had ever known. And she had lost a second father. The second father she had put her faith in time and time again. 

Slade was responsible. She knew that with absolute certainty. 

And with her dying breath Barbara Gordon - _Oracle_ - would see him brought to justice. 

- __

"Oracle. Bruce has…gone after Slade alone." 

Barbara could not see the logic behind that, but when had anyone ever been able to figure out Bruce Wayne? She was immediately patching herself through to everyone she knew would help. To face Slade alone when he had characters such as Jason Todd and Dick Grayson in his employ, was suicide. Even if she believed neither would have the courage to kill Bruce themselves. 

"I've told the JLA. They're on their way Tim. Where _are_ you?" 

"I'm on my way. Do you really think I'd leave him to fight alone. I know he'd come after _me_" 

Barbara could think of nothing to say. 

"Oracle? Thanks." 

"Your welcome. I want him alive too, Robin." 

- 

Jason Todd had died. He had barely been out of his teens. 

But now he stood on the rooftop, watching friends – if you could call them that – new _and_ old, mourning his father. He knew that he had never really seen _or_ felt about Bruce that way. He was never given the chance. 

A blow from a crowbar and the world had seemed such a smaller place. 

But given the chance he realised he'd miss the caped crusader. He'd spent half of his newly-restored life picking fights with Bruce. Placing the other two sons he had chosen to adopt in danger and watching Bruce fail to save them, with glee. 

His intention had never been to hurt or kill Dick and Tim. He had always let them go. He had only wanted Bruce to pay attention to him the way he did them. 

But he had become evil. He had done the unthinkable and become a person Bruce was sworn to destroy. Like Dick. Only, Dick was Bruce's first ward – and son – and so his rage had turned to _Jason_. 

And the only person Jason could blame was Slade. 

He had made Redwing. Without Redwing, Jason could have been saved by Bruce. _He_ would have been the one Bruce fought to bring back to the light. 

And for that, Jason would never forgive. 

With his dying breath Jason Todd - _Red Hood_ - would kill him. 

- 

_"You won't kill them." _

Jason grinned and didn't bother to say anything. It wasn't like Bruce would ever bother replying himself. He just glanced briefly at Dick and Tim, who stood ready to fight at a moments warning. But like Bruce, they too thought he could be saved. 

"Why Slade?" 

"Why not?" Answering a question with a question was the most irritating thing in the world to Bruce, and he knew it. But the scowl on his face was brief and then Bruce was gone. 

Frowning, Jason turned his wrath on the prodigal sons. 

"Why, Jason? You didn't answer him." 

Tim was so like Bruce it made Jason feel sick. 

"I don't have to explain myself to you. " 

"When he kills again, you _will_." 

Dick's words rang through the air and seemed to ring in Jason's skull for hours afterwards. 

- 

Clark Kent was the closest thing Bruce Wayne had had to a best friend. 

And as he stood with the rest of the justice league, it was like a knife to the heart. 

Bruce had made little to no effort to integrate himself as part of the league. Most of the time, he had forgone their needs to those of Gotham, and Clark had understood. Gotham was 'Bruce's City' and that was the way it had always been. 

But now, starting as the dead body, soaked in the rain, he wished Bruce had asked for help. 

There were many people who have rushed to the aid of the dark knight, and at their head would have been Superman. 

That was, before Nightwing and Robin and his entourage of closest friends and allies had rushed to the scene. Many people would mourn the loss of Batman, not least the city to whom he had been their protector. 

Slade had a lot to answer for. 

And with his dying breath Clark Kent - _Superman_ - would see him brought to justice. 

- 

It was Alfred Pennyworth who laid a coat over Bruce's still form. 

It was Barbara who had called for Jim Gordon, the one person who would keep reporters and the suchlike at bay until all could be explained. 

It was Clark Kent who explained the downfall of Gotham's seemingly invincible protector. 

It was Jason Todd, Dick Grayson and Timothy Drake who vowed vengeance upon the person who had destroyed their adopted father. For breaking up a family who had suffered so much already. 

And three lines of Robin would see Slade burn in hell before they ever saw him brought to justice. 

The Year of Hell had begun. 


End file.
